In 1991, Felleman and Van Essen published their seminal study regarding hierarchical processing in the primate cerebral cortex. Their work encompassed a widescale analysis of connections reported through tracing between 35 regions in the macaque visual cortex, extending from cortical regions to the laminar level. In this work, we revisit laminar-level connectivity in the macaque brain using a whole-brain MRI-based approach. We use multimodal ex-vivo MRI imaging of the macaque brain in both white and grey matter, which are then integrated via a simple model of laminar connectivity. This model uses a granularity-based approach to define a set of rules that expands cortical connections to the laminar level. Different fiber tracking routines are then examined in order to explore the ability of our model to infer laminar connectivity. The network of macaque cortical laminar connectivity resulting from the chosen routine is then validated in the visual cortex by comparison to findings from Felleman and Van Essen with an 83% accuracy level. By using a more comprehensive definition of the cortex that addresses its heterogenous laminar composition, we can explore a new avenue of structural connectivity on the laminar level.

1991 年，Felleman 和 Van Essen 发表了他们关于灵长类动物大脑皮层分级处理的开创性研究。他们的工作包括对通过追踪猕猴视觉皮层 35 个区域（从皮质区域延伸到层流层）报告的联系进行广泛分析。在这项工作中，我们使用基于全脑 MRI 的方法重新审视了猕猴大脑中的层流级连接。我们在白质和灰质中使用猕猴大脑的多模态离体 MRI 成像，然后通过一个简单的层流连接模型将其整合。该模型使用基于粒度的方法来定义一组将皮层连接扩展到层流级别的规则。然后检查不同的纤维跟踪例程，以探索我们的模型推断层流连通性的能力。然后通过与 Felleman 和 Van Essen 的发现进行比较，以 83% 的准确度水平验证由所选例程产生的猕猴皮层层状连接网络在视觉皮层中得到验证。通过使用更全面的皮层定义来解决其异质层状组成，我们可以探索层状结构连接的新途径。